So far, there's no peace deal in Cairo, but there's no fighting in Gaza, either.

A day into a 72-hour cease-fire, many Palestinians returned to devastation in Gaza as officials from Israel and the Palestinian side -- including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Palestine Liberation Organization -- gathered in Egypt for talks about how to make the truce last.

From Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the performance of his country's troops, again blamed Hamas for civilian casualties and expressed hopes that the Cairo talks could set the stage for a broader peace.

The Palestinian and Israeli delegations -- working through Egyptian intermediaries in Cairo -- had yet to reach agreement on extending the cease-fire that has brought at least a temporary pause in the fighting, Qais Abdelkarim, a Palestinian delegate who is part of the negotiating team, told CNN Wednesday.

In a text message to CNN, a senior Egyptian official described the talks as "still an experimental discussion in order to consolidate the cease-fire."

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But Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, told Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television that talk of an extension of the truce for another 72 hours was nothing more than that -- talk.

"There is no basis for the media news about the extension of truce," he said.

An Israeli government official told CNN on Thursday that Israel is willing to unconditionally extend the cease-fire.

"The current one is unconditional, and from our point of view, it can be extended unconditionally," said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.

Israel is calling for Hamas, the militant Islamic group that runs Gaza, to disarm. Hamas, meanwhile, wants an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, a measure Israel says is necessary to stop weapons being smuggled in.

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Among the issues being raised, a German diplomatic source told CNN, is a proposal to reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt under the auspices of a European Union mission. EU officials operated a similar mission from 2005 to 2007, when Hamas assumed power in Gaza.

Egypt closed the Rafah crossing after the country's military ousted Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Mohammed Morsy. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt's new government has declared a terrorist group.

"I'm very glad that we have, at least temporarily, achieved a cease-fire. The question now is, how do we build on this temporary cessation of violence and move forward in a sustainable way?" U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday.

"I have no sympathy for Hamas. I have great sympathy for ordinary people who are struggling within Gaza."

The latest Gaza conflict is the third in less than six years. Previous cease-fires have brought calm for a matter of months or years but failed to tackle the broader issues.

"The problem is that -- regardless of the blame game that's taking place right now and it usually does happen after every Gaza escalation -- it's the people of Gaza who are suffering from the siege, from a disastrous humanitarian situation, civilian deaths, destruction," said Nasser Judeh, the foreign minister of Jordan, which borders Israel and the West Bank.

"I think we all have to collectively think about how we can rescue them from this," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

Dire humanitarian situation

Around 520,000 Gaza residents were displaced during the conflict, according to the United Nations. That's about 29% of the territory's 1.8 million inhabitants.

Some of them returned to their neighborhoods after the cease-fire began Tuesday, in many cases finding rubble where their homes had once stood.

The United Nations estimates that more than 10,000 homes have been destroyed or severely damaged in Gaza, an already crowded and impoverished territory.

Nearly 1,900 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the conflict, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. It's unclear how many were militants. The United Nations has estimated that at least 70% of the dead were civilians.

For many Palestinians, rebuilding their shattered lives is still a distant goal. Their immediate challenge is to secure water, food and shelter.

Running water is scarce, and there are only about two to four hours of electricity a day, the U.N. says.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has been sheltering about 270,000 people in its school buildings in Gaza.

"We will be very closely following not only the needs of people who stay at our schools, but also those who are returning to their home and may find themselves in very difficult situations in the days and weeks to come," Pierre Krahenbuhl, UNRWA's commissioner-general, told CNN.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians in Gaza celebrate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Tuesday, August 26. After more than seven weeks of heavy fighting, Israel and Hamas agreed to an open-ended ceasefire that puts off dealing with core long-term issues.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians inspect the damage to a residential building following several late night Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on August 26.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Gila, center, mother of 4-year-old Israeli boy Daniel Tragerman, sits next to his grave during his funeral near the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday, August 24.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians run away from debris after a bomb from an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Gaza on Saturday, August 23.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli soldier smokes a cigarette in a large concrete pipe used as shelter at an army deployment point near the Israeli-Gaza border on Wednesday, August 20.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Light trails made by rockets fired from the Gaza Strip stand out against the night sky on Tuesday, August 19. Despite efforts to come to a peaceful agreement, Gaza militants launched rockets into Israel on Tuesday, and Israel responded with its own rockets.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An injured Palestinian man is helped into the Shifa hospital in Gaza City on August 19.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Police examine the remains of a rocket launched from Gaza that landed near the kibbutz of Yad Mordechay on August 19.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on August 19.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Islam El Masri begins to sort through the rubble of her destroyed home in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, on Thursday, August 14.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israelis gather in Tel Aviv during a protest August 14 calling on the government and the army to end Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza once and for all.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke rises in Gaza City after an airstrike on Saturday, August 9.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers walk past a Merkava tank as they patrol a field near Israel's border with Gaza on August 9.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian boy salvages family belongings from the rubble of a four-story building after an airstrike in Gaza City on Friday, August 8.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israelis flee after a rocket fired from Gaza hit the residential neighborhood of Sderot, Israel, on August 8.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian man looks out over destruction in the al-Tufah neighborhood of Gaza City on Wednesday, August 6.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Displaced Palestinians carry their belongings as they leave a United Nations school in Beit Lahiya, Gaza, to return to their homes Tuesday, August 5.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – The body of Avrohom Wallis is carried during his funeral in Jerusalem on Monday, August 4. Wallis was killed in what Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld called a "terror attack," when a man drove an earthmover into a bus in Jerusalem.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers fire a mortar shell toward Gaza from the Israeli side of the border on August 4.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians remove rubble from a house hit by an airstrike in the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on August 4.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli drone circles over Gaza City on Sunday, August 3.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian man sits in a hospital in Rafah, Gaza, on August 3.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An honor guard caries the coffin of Israeli Lt. Hadar Goldin during his funeral in Kfar-saba, Israel, on August 3. Goldin was thought to have been captured during fighting in Gaza but was later declared killed in action by the Israel Defense Forces.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian boy looks for belongings after an airstrike in Rafah on Saturday, August 2.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers walk to their tank at a staging area near the border with Gaza on August 2.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A young Palestinian carries damaged copies of the Quran from the rubble of the Imam Al Shafaey mosque in Gaza City on August 2.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians displaced from their houses return to check their homes in Gaza City on Friday, August 1.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli soldier carries a shell as he prepares a tank along the Israel-Gaza border on Thursday, July 31. Israel called up 16,000 additional reservists, bolstering forces for its fight against Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke rises from a building after an airstrike in Rafah on July 31.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – The parents and a sister of Israeli soldier Guy Algranati mourn during his funeral in Tel Aviv on July 31.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – U.N. workers remove a donkey injured at a U.N.-run school in Gaza on Wednesday, July 30.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians walk under the collapsed minaret of a destroyed mosque in Gaza City on July 30.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians gather leaflets that fell from an Israeli plane on July 30. The leaflets warned residents of airstrikes in Gaza City.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israelis take cover from a Palestinian rocket attack from Gaza during the funeral of Israeli soldier Meidan Maymon Biton, which was held at a cemetery in Netivot, Israel, on Tuesday, July 29.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke and fire rise above Gaza City after an Israeli airstrike on July 29.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli soldier prays on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza on July 29 as smoke billows from the only power plant supplying electricity to Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Near the rubble of their home in Rafah, Palestinian men mourn July 29 for people killed during an airstrike.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian man places a portrait of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya on the rubble of Haniya's Gaza City home July 29 after it was hit by an overnight airstrike.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Flares from Israeli forces light up the night sky of Gaza City on July 29.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of 2nd Lt. Roy Peles, an infantry officer who was killed in combat, during his funeral in Tel Aviv on Sunday, July 27.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – During a 12-hour cease-fire in Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood on Saturday, July 26, a Palestinian man sits atop a car filled with belongings that were salvaged from a destroyed home.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers watch a bomb explode along the border with Gaza before the 12-hour cease-fire on July 26.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – As her brother-in-law Mazen Keferna weeps on the ground, Manal Keferna cries upon discovering her family home destroyed by airstrikes in Beit Hanoun on July 26.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians dig a body out of the rubble of a destroyed house in Gaza during the cease-fire on July 26.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli soldier mourns at the grave of reserve Master Sgt. Yair Ashkenazy during his funeral at the military cemetery in Rehovot, Israel, on Friday, July 25. Ashkenazy was killed during operations in northern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces reported.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian man cries after bringing a child to the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya on Thursday, July 24. The child was wounded in a strike on a school that was serving as a shelter for families in Gaza. It's unclear who was behind the strike. The Israeli military said it was "reviewing" the incident, telling CNN that a rocket fired from Gaza could have been responsible.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers carry a wounded soldier to a helicopter near the Israel-Gaza border on July 24.

Israel-Gaza crisis – A trail of blood is seen in the courtyard of the school that was hit July 24 in the Beit Hanoun district of Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli tank fires toward Gaza from a position near Israel's border on July 24.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A photograph tweeted by astronaut Alexander Gerst on Wednesday, July 23, shows major cities of Israel and Gaza. Gerst said in his tweet: "My saddest photo yet. From #ISS we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over #Gaza & #Israel."

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A woman in Philadelphia passes by a departure board that shows US Airways Flight 796, scheduled to fly to Tel Aviv, has been canceled on Tuesday, July 22. The Federal Aviation Administration told U.S. airlines they were temporarily prohibited from flying to the Tel Aviv airport after a Hamas rocket exploded nearby.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke and fire from the explosion of an Israeli strike rise over Gaza City on July 22.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A relative of Israeli soldier Jordan Ben-Simon mourns over his coffin during his funeral in Ashkelon, Israel, on July 22.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians inspect destroyed buildings and collect usable items after an Israeli air assault on July 22.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers weep at the grave of Israeli Sgt. Adar Barsano during his funeral Sunday, July 20, in Nahariya, Israel.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinian medics carry a body in Gaza's Shaja'ia district on July 20.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers give medical care to soldiers who were wounded during an offensive in Gaza on July 20.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian boy injured during an Israeli airstrike is taken to the hospital by his father in Gaza City on July 20.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians flee their homes as Israeli troops focus their firepower on the Gaza town of Shaja'ia on Sunday, July 20. The shelling and bombing killed at least 60 people and wounded 300, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers patrol near the Israel-Gaza border on July 18.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A relative mourns July 18 during the funeral of Rani Abu Tawila, a Palestinian who was killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian demonstrator, protesting Israel's military operation in Gaza, runs through smoke July 18 during clashes with Israeli soldiers at the entrance of the Ofer prison in the West Bank village of Betunia.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – This image, made from video shot through a night-vision scope, was released by the Israeli military on July 18. It shows troops moving through a wall opening during the early hours of the ground offensive in Gaza.

In a news conference Wednesday, Netanyahu praised the performance of Israeli soldiers and showed video he said demonstrated the Israeli military's efforts to spare civilians.

"I salute you, the entire nation salutes you," he said in Hebrew.

He also said the country "deeply regrets" civilian deaths but blamed Hamas for putting civilians in harm's way and using their deaths as "PR fodder."

"The responsibility for this tragedy belongs with Hamas," he said.

Netanyahu spoke a day after the Israeli military finished pulling its troops out of Gaza, saying it had achieved its mission of taking out the threat posed by Hamas' network of tunnels, some of which ran underneath the border and were used by militants to mount attacks.

The Israel Defense Forces says it estimates about 900 militants were killed in the Gaza operation. IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said it was a preliminary figure based on field reports from troops returning from battle.

Israeli officials have said 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians in Israel died in the conflict.

Opinion polls in Israel, where the public was particularly alarmed by the tunnel threat, suggested strong support for the offensive against Hamas.

Militants fired about one third of their estimated arsenal of 10,000 rockets, the IDF said, with 2,303 of them striking Israel. The Israeli military says its troops destroyed another third of the rocket supply, leaving roughly 3,300 more in Gaza.

Now, the key to any talks, according to Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev, is that Hamas must disarm.

But Nachman Shai, an opposition member of the Israeli parliament, said the situation wasn't quite so simple.

"I'm not sure that we accomplished the mission," he told CNN. "I think we have to do much more. If you ask me, the next phase in this mission is to build new relations between us and the Palestinians."

Netanyahu intimated that the decision by some Arab states to forgo support for Hamas in its fight with Israel could presage a shift in the long debate over peace in the Middle East. He said he agreed with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the apparent realignment could present opportunities to use the Cairo talks to broaden the discussion.

"I think he's right that there are opportunities now, perhaps opportunities that we've not seen before with the realignment of important parties in the Middle East, to be able to fashion a new reality, one more conducive to the end of violence, the establishment of calm, sustainable peace, or at least a sustainable quiet that can lead to other things," the Israeli Prime Minister said.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat stressed to CNN on Wednesday the conflict would never be solved through violence.

"It's going to be through a meaningful peace process that would lead to end this Israeli occupation that began 46 years ago and is still ongoing," he said.

Mohammed Shtayyeh, a senior negotiator for the PLO, described Israel's call for the demilitarization of Gaza as "blackmail."

"I don't think there should be any trade between reconstruction of Gaza, humanitarian aid, relief aid and demilitarization of Gaza," Shtayyeh, a confidant of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, told CNN's Jake Tapper. "The demilitarization of Gaza should be part of a final status negotiations."

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Hamas leaders say that they want to negotiate an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, or at least have a body other than the Israelis controlling the borders.

They also want an extension of fishing rights off Gaza's coast and the release of prisoners detained by Israel.

Ismail Haniyeh, a senior leader of Hamas, said in a televised statement Tuesday that Hamas members will work with the Palestinian delegation to end the blockade.

Demands on Egypt

Hamas is also looking for concessions from Egypt, which brokered the cease-fire.

"They're looking to Egypt to open up the Rafah border, so Egypt is in fact a party to this cease-fire negotiation," said David Schenker, director of the Washington Institute's program on Arab Politics. "If you want this to endure, then Egypt is going to have to pony up something."

But the Egyptian government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the country's former military chief, is very wary of Hamas.

El-Sisi has cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot.

After ousting former President Mohamed Morsy, who was backed by the Muslim Brotherhood and had closer ties with Hamas, el-Sisi sealed off the Rafah crossing and destroyed smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt.

The United States will be on the ground in Cairo for talks but will not be a party to them.

"We don't negotiate with Hamas. We don't talk to Hamas. But we certainly want to be there to support an effort to negotiate over these key issues that have been so troubling in the region for so many years," State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki told CNN's Tapper.